Arachnids
Arachnids are a race of insect like creatures who live in uncolonised space. They cover many planets in their solar system as they are able to colonize planets by hurling their spores into space. Arachnids vary in size and shape, this is due to their nature of adapting to situations, with a new breed of Arachnid being born to fit a problem the colony is facing. Arachnids also have an interesting way to contain their number to a more manageable size, when eggs are laid they are kept in reserves by using a chemical produced by the queen. when a member of the hive dies the egg can be hatched quickly and the Arachnid will grow at an extreme rate and replace the fallen one almost instantly, this is a tactic when they fight and is a way for them to keep their numbers up when fighting an enemy. Klendathu Klendathu is the Arachnids home world which is located within uncolonised space. The planet orbits a twin star system, it has two moons and borders an asteroid belt that has an unlimited surplus of asteroids that are presumably the remains of some kind of twin world. The surface of the planet contains a breathable atmosphere but is arid and extremely mountainous. History Arachnids have gone years undisturbed by other life in the galaxy, occasionally rouge ships would land on their planets and the crews soon massacred. Though one day a stolen cargo ship from the Core Rebellion landed on one of their planets, during the Arachnids attack on the crew a distress signal was sent out across base, luring more ships to the planet. The first to come across this beacon was Danthrall, who was fleeing from the UNSC core worlds after his brief, unsuccessful visitation of that region. He began to create a small fortress on the planet, and sent drones to scout the surrounding area. However, once the drones were discovered by the Arachnids they were destroyed and they soon began to assault the fortress. Luckily for Danthrall, a UCR corvette arrived around this time to also investigate the distress beacon. Combining their power, Danthrall and some UCR Commandos managed to hold back the Arachnids in time to escape the planet. In response to the hostiles, the UCR fired a dimension eater missile at the planet, devastating a large area of the surface. This would later cause the queen of the colony to order spores fired off in the direction the corvette left. After awhile the spores made their way to UCR space, landing in the Cirus system. The Arachnids soon laid waste to the Jiralhanae system, taking control of several of their planets including their homeworld, Doisac. Known Species Warrior Bugs Warrior Bugs are four-legged Arachnids approximately two to three meters long and are coloured as to the terrain, such as desert warriors will be tan with black and yellow stripes. The rearmost pairs of legs are much longer than the two front forelegs, and serve as the primary locomotion, the forelegs being 1/3 shorter. Warrior Bugs are quite agile and fast, capable of climbing and burrowing. These bugs utilize a powerful pincer-like mandible that are capable of crushing rock, metal as well as severing limbs easily. The two upper forelegs or "side mandibles" are utilized in the manner of swords for attack as well as defence. They are devastating in this role as they reach out to well over a meter, 2 feet further than their forelegs or 3 feet further than its actual mandibles. It is said that they can lose a limb and still fight with 86% efficiency. Warrior bugs have very tough exo-skeletons and high durability, being able to take a large amount of fire before they succumb to their wounds. Warrior will attack in very large numbers, often storming and overwhelming their enemies, even if they are in possession of powerful weaponry due to their bravely and ignorance. Because of their large numbers a death is considered a minor problem and in some instances it used to their advantage, as they can climb onto large piles of their dead to scale walls. Tanker Bug The Tanker Bugs are bugs, generally black in colour and stand around 30ft tall. They have evolved the ability to spray a stream of flammable, corrosive liquid from a nozzle-like spout on the top of its said, which they will then proceed to ignite with a small spark which it can generate. With each Arachnid serving a specific military role, the Tanker Bug functions as a form of armour support. Their thick exoskeleton provides them with excellent protection, though not immunity, from rifle rounds, allowing them to take quite a beating before being killed. They are however vulnerable to explosives, such as grenades, particularly in weakened areas of their shell. Hopper Bug The Hoppers are a type of flying Arachnids that are used for hit and run tactics against small units, and as air support for large attacks as well as scouts. The Hopper is essentially a Warrior Bug with wings. Hoppers are swift and agile fliers, but their light and poorly armoured bodies makes them vulnerable and easy to kill. They attack enemies either by grabbing and stabbing them with a pincer located on the rear end of its tail, or by swooping down to cut enemies with its claws or it sharpened wings. Plasma Bug Similar in size to the Tanker, Plasma Bugs act as planetary defence as well as anti-aircraft and artillery units. They fill this role by firing powerful burst of plasma from their abdomens, they are strong enough to fire these bursts into orbit. The shot itself is powerful enough to deflect an asteroid or slice a capital ship in half. They are also responsible for firing spores into space for colonization. Scorpion Bug The Scorpion Class Pulse Warrior, or simply "Scorpion", is a heavily armoured bug used to destroy vehicles . Due to its heavy armour the Scorpion bug is very slow, and has poor agility. However, it virtually invulnerable to rifle rounds, as they are not strong enough to penetrate thick armour and shields. Scorpions are able to fire powerful plasma bolts from the tips of there tails which can easily burn through armoured vehicles. Bombardier Bug Bombardier Bugs are small 15 cm ball shaped bugs which can be fired by the Scorpion Bug or dropped by the Hopper Bug and then self destruct. The Bombardier has two states; closed state in which it is fired, and an open state in which it self destructs as a grenade. a Bombardier Bugs explosion is on par with a common grenade producing an explosions big enough to send objects and humans flying. Arkellian Sand Beetle Arkellian Sand Beetles are low-ranking species of the Arachnids, mostly used for building tunnels and burrows for their larger allies, as well they act as a carriage for Brain Bugs, with tens of them at a time carrying one around. It is possible that the Arkellian Sand Beetle was a separate species and not of the Arachnid race, meaning they could of been enslaved. Arkellian Sand Beetles are one of the smaller members of the Arachnid army, only being 0.5m. It is said that Arkellian Sand Beetles are superior to humans in several ways,since they have no ego, no fear, do not know of death and are selfless members of society. Brain Bug Large bugs which do not posses a exoskeleton, Brain Bugs are extremely intelligent and are the reason for the Arachnid military like tactics and serve the vital role as a hive brain for their colonies. They communicate using a certain wavelength within the Arachnid hive mind. physically they are almost completely defenceless apart from a high pitched screaming noise capable of bursting blood vessels in human heads at a short distance. They resemble large fleshy slugs and are so fat that they are incapable of travelling completely by themselves and instead are carried by a swarm of Arkellian Sand Beetles. The importance of this type of Bug amongst their hives mean that it is heavily defended with Warrior Bugs fighting to the last to protect it. In fact, if there is a direct danger to the Brain Bug, the Bug hordes will cease attacking until it manages to get away to safety. One of the more dangerous abilities of the Brain Bug is its capacity to steal the knowledge out of the minds of other beings. It accomplishes this through the use of a sharp proboscis that protrudes from its vulva-shaped mouth. This highly specialized mouth is designed to break through the skull of a sentient being and penetrate into the brain itself. Once there, the Brain Bug begins to consume the preys brain matter and absorbs all of their memories as well as their knowledge. This provides the bugs with a great deal of intelligence on their enemies as they are capable of learning vital secrets from their foes. Queen Deep within their colonies are Arachnid queens who jobs it is to lay eggs and maintain the colony. It is unknown how many queens are in a colony or what they look like but it is assumed that they are very well guarded and are at the deepest depths of the colony. Category:Terms Category:Races